Arizona (Week 13) Immediate Reaction
The weather and the game made today a very long day! The Steelers lost at home to a team that they were “supposed” to beat. The Steelers jumped out of the gate quickly and moved the ball efficiently on their first drive. Unfortunately two incompletions on 2nd and 3rd down resulted in settling for a FG. Nevertheless, the Steelers continued to look better at the line of scrimmage through the remainder of the first and most of the second quarter. Then, in a very short period of time, everything changed. Kenny Pickett was injured on a 3rd down run to the 1 yard line, Mason Cole was blown into the backfield on 4th and goal, and Elandon Roberts injured his groin on the next series for the Cardinals. This roughly 20 minutes of time changed the complexion of the day and game.
Kenny Pickett played 5 series’ in the first half, completed 7/10 passes for 70 yards and no turnovers. One of the drives was ended by a bad snap. When he left the game the score was 3-3. We all know what happened the rest of the day. I am not making excuses, but losing your starting QB, your ONLY remaining starting ILB, arguably your best offensive lineman, and your safety’s hand makes it hard to win in the NFL. This is not college. These are NFL teams, and this is a Cardinals team that beat Dallas this year. The Steelers did not play well enough to win, but the Cardinals did. Hats off to them.
I know today sucks. All losses suck and this one “feels” bad. It feels bad as a win could have possibly all but locked up a playoff spot. However, let’s all put this in perspective: The Steelers started the day as the # 5 seed in the AFC playoff seeding. Now that the long, rain delayed day is over, the Steelers sit as the # 5 seed in the AFC playoff seeding. They lost to an NFC team, which has no impact on most of the tiebreakers. I truly think there are too many “mad as hell” players in that locker room to let this one go. I think Najee, Jaylen, Cam, Minkah will propel this team to a “wake up call” and bounce back Thursday night.